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Lord Farquaad
Lord Maximus Farquaad (also simply known as Maximus Farquaad), or better known as Lord Farquaad or just Farquaad, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 5th full-length animated feature film Shrek, and its 2003 3D short Shrek 4-D (also known as The Ghost of Lord Farquaad). In the film, Farquaad is the oppressive ruler of a kingdom called DuLoc and he spent the first part capturing fairytale creatures, so he could find the magic mirror. Once he did, he asked if DuLoc, the place where he ruled, was the perfect kingdom, but as he was not a king, DuLoc was not a kingdom, so he tried to marry Princess Fiona to become king. He is very opprobrious, despicable and abhorrent, so he despises creatures of any kind and sought to relocate the fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp. He attempts to cut a deal with Shrek by promising to remove the monsters from his swamp if Shrek could bring Princess Fiona to him, as he wanted to marry her. He was voiced by , who also played Burke in Blow Out, Lord John Whorfin in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, B.Z. in Santa Claus: The Movie, Earl Talbot Blake in Ricochet, Eric Qualen in the 1993 film Cliffhanger, Jean-Claude in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Arthur Mitchell in Dexter, and Lamar Blackburn in The Accountant. In the videogame adaptation of the film, he was voiced by . In the musical, he was portrayed by Christopher Sieber. Personality Farquaad is the ruthless, deceptive, short-tempered, egotistical and iron-fisted ruler of DuLoc. He is an extremely arrogant, oppressive and power-hungry dictator who does not care about anyone but himself. However, despite his villainy, Farquaad does not see himself as a monster and when this was brought up to him by Gingy, he instantly dismissed it and even went as far to call him and the rest of fairytale creatures trash and viewed them as poisoning his perfect world, which makes him completely xenophobic, contemptuous and individualistic. Farquaad also suffered from a Napoleon Complex and felt the need to overcompensate for his diminutive stature (which is a constant source of humor throughout the film) by being extremely despotic, domineering, authoritative and controlling. Other examples of this are the perspective trick used when he's first introduced, Shrek's comment on the towering height of the castle of DuLoc, his own visage plastered on the village of DuLoc, confirming his obvious narcissism disorder, and in his grave where the statue of Farquaad was portrayed as being taller than the dragon that killed him. Farquaad is a heartless and uncompromising perfectionist who saw that everything had to be done his way and the only way for DuLoc to become perfect was to exile all of the fairytale creatures. Farquaad's one and only dream was to become the official ruler of DuLoc which pushed him to levels of manic absurdity. However, to do this he needed a princess, so the only reason that he decided to wed Fiona was out of pure lust for power and her appearance, not for her personality or soul. Farquaad is also very sadistic and manipulative, as evidenced while he was taunting Gingy by severing his legs and torturing him further by repeating the line "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man.". He also threatened to draw and quarter Shrek and Fiona until they would beg him for death. Although in the first film, where he was disgusted by Fiona's grotesque appearance, he may have actually developed real feelings for her as after his death, he wanted her to become his undead queen, so he could rule the underworld. He is also very lazy and neglectful, as evidenced by him not wanting to rescue the princess himself, so he arranged a tournament of Knights to battle for the honor, though this might also be because he was too afraid to risk his own life and take his chances with a volcanic castle inhabited by an enormous dragon. To be fair, he is incredibly short in stature, so he was likely unable to do so. Farquaad is also shown to be quite rude, cocky, obnoxious and argumentative, so he has a bullying streak which shows as he calls both Fiona and Shrek hideous at the sight of their appearance and described them both as "it". Farquaad's overall attraction towards the princess may have been solely lust, and even if they did wed, there was no guarantee that he would treat her right. His hatred of fairytale creatures, desire to export them and his tendency to stand on podiums giving speeches give Farquaad a strong vibe similar to that of Adolf Hitler. However, he is willing to make deals with those he is disgusted by and will honor his end of a deal with no strings attached, should it suit him of course. In the musical, he was shown to be quite duplicitous, persuasive, treacherous, hypocritical and sanctimonious, as he was revealed to be the offspring of fairytale creatures (the princess from "The Princess and the Pea" and the dwarf Grumpy from "Snow White") in spite of his laws of banning them from DuLoc; this was proven when the fairytale creatures brought in Grumpy to confront Farquaad for accusing him of abandoning Farquaad in the woods when he actually kicked Farquaad out because he was 28 and living in his basement. Films ''Shrek'' Farquaad has banished all of the fairytale creatures from his land, forcing them to take refuge in Shrek's swamp. Back at his castle, Farquaad tortures the Gingerbread Man named Gingy into revealing the location of the other fairytale folk that he has been unable to capture or banish. Just as the Gingerbread Man is going to reveal what he knows, the captain of the guards arrives and announces that they have found the Magic Mirror. After disposing of the Gingerbread Man, Lord Farquaad asks the mirror if DuLoc is the perfect kingdom of them all. The Magic Mirror tells him that he is not truly a king as he is not descended from royalty, but he can become one if he marries a princess. In a parody of dating shows, the mirror introduces three different princesses for Farquaad to choose from: Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. At the suggestion of his henchman named Thelonious, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is locked away in a castle tower guarded by a ferocious dragon. Despite the mirror's attempt to warn him about what happens at midnight, Lord Farquaad decides to plan a tournament to see which knight will be worthy enough to embark on a quest to retrieve Fiona. However, Shrek, who had traveled from his swamp to DuLoc accompanied by Donkey to ask Farquaad to move the fairytale creatures off his swamp interrupts the tournament. Farquaad changes his mind and decides that whoever kills Shrek will be named champion. However, despite the knights best efforts, they are all defeated by Shrek and Donkey. Impressed by Shrek's actions, Farquaad awards the ogre with the quest he had set to his knights. Shrek remarks that he is already on a quest to get his swamp back. Farquaad makes a deal with Shrek that if he succeeds in the quest to rescue Princess Fiona, he will give the ogre his swamp back, fully restored to the way it was before the fairytale folk overran the place. Shrek and Donkey successfully rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon and the trio journey onward to DuLoc. Shrek and Fiona start falling in love, but Shrek overhears Fiona talking about how no one could love a hideous beast and thinks she is referring to him. The next morning, Shrek brings Lord Farquaad to Fiona, and Farquaad hands over the deed of the swamp to Shrek, telling him that it's cleared out as agreed. Farquaad immediately proposes marriage to Fiona, who agrees on the condition that they have the wedding before sunset. He takes Fiona back to his castle, while Shrek is heartbroken and returns to his swamp. However, Donkey then comes to Shrek and tells him that Fiona was not referring to him when she said that no one could love a hideous beast. So Shrek and Donkey go to crash the wedding, where Shrek admits his love for Fiona, Farquaad found it amusing and then tries to get Fiona to marry him, but then Fiona sees the sun setting and decides to reveal her spell. Furious and disgusted over the change, Farquaad orders for Shrek to be executed, and for Fiona to be locked back at the tower, and he crowns himself king. However, Shrek then whistles for Dragoness, who destructively bursts in the window and devours Farquaad, and she belches his crown back out. He also appear in Shrekkacular's Karaoke Swamp, where is seen in Dragoness' stomach with a match singing "Staying Alive" and is later digested sometime after or during the Shrek dance party and presumably dies of starvation. ''Shrek 4-D'' Farquaad returns as a ghost and sent his henchman Thelonious to take Fiona to him so he could kill her by sending her over a waterfall, to make her his ghost queen so he could rule the underworld. He also sent a giant stone dragon to eat Shrek and Donkey, but this failed, as (during the fight between Dragon and the stone dragon) the stone dragon lost its wings in a tunnel and fell into a watery grave. After Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and Thelonious fell over the waterfall and were saved by Dragon. Dragon killed Farquaad (again) by breathing fire at him, due to this Farquaad does not appear in Shrek 2 and despite appearing in flashbacks of Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After, he never physically appeared again and only can made cameo in the sequels. The short is also known as The Ghost of Lord Farquaad. ''Shrek The Third'' Farquaad does not appear once in Shrek 2. However, he did appear in its second sequel Shrek The Third. When Prince Charming and Captain Hook demand Shrek's whereabouts, Gingy's life flashed before his eyes and he recalls the moment when Farquaad tortured them for the other fairytale creatures whereabouts. ''Shrek Forever After'' Farquaad appears during the end credits of Shrek Forever After. ''Scared Shrekless'' In the Shrek Halloween special Scared Shrekless, Shrek, and his friends return to DuLoc to tell scary stories. It is revealed that DuLoc turned into a dark and terrifying place since Farquaad died. Shrek and Fiona used Farquaad's death as their main weapon to scare Donkey. Farquaad's picture is seen everywhere. ''Thriller Night'' In Thriller Night, Farquaad made a cameo along with other Shrek villains being resurrected as zombies and with Shrek beginning to dance after getting controlled by the Pied Piper. ''Shrek the Musical'' In Shrek the Musical, Farquaad's role is the same as the movie, but he was portrayed as more of a comedic and less dignified egomaniac. It was revealed that he was the son of the dwarf Grumpy and the princess from "The Princess and the Pea", which explains his "little" height. Farquaad explained to his subjects that following his mother's death, Farquaad was abandoned in the woods by his father and that he hated him for it. However, this turns out to be a lie as the fairytale creatures confronted Farquaad during the wedding by bringing in Grumpy, who revealed that he only kicked Farquaad out because he was a slacker in his early 30s living in his basement. This made all of the people in Duloc to see what a total hypocrite that Farquaad really is. Farquaad's fate is also changed, as opposed to being eaten by Dragoness, he was instead burned to death by Dragoness under Shrek's command. Quotes Shrek }} ''Shrek 4-D'' Trivia *IGN's Orlando Parfitt chose Lord Farquaad as his 14th favorite fantasy villain. *Farquaad is the only main villain in the Shrek franchise who does not come from a fairytale, as Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, and Rumpelstiltskin, the main antagonists of Shrek's three sequels, Shrek 2, Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After, actually came from them. *Farquaad is based on the former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, as Jeffrey Katzenberg (one of the founders of DreamWorks and a former executive of Disney) holds some animosity towards Eisner for firing him in 1994 at the age of 43. Farquaad may also be based on the late Napoleon Bonaparte, due to being short, yet ruling with an iron fist and crowning himself to king. He may also be based on the late , the 7th President of the United States as he forces fairytale creatures from their home while Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 that led to the forced removal of the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes called the Chickasaw, the Creek, the Seminole, the Cherokee, and the Choctaw. *The late was originally offered the role of Lord Farquaad, but he turned it down to play Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series instead. Coincidentally, both film sagas began in 2001. The role ultimately went to John Lithgow. *In a general way, Lord Farquaad serves technically as the catalyst of the film series' events. As Shrek rescued Fiona from the castle under Farquaad's orders, this not only ruined the Fairy Godmother's plan of having Prince Charming rescuing Fiona to take control of Far Far Away, but also Rumpelstiltskin's negotiations with King Harold and Queen Lillian to take over Far Far Away. Interestingly, when asked why he rescued Fiona in the first place, Shrek never mentions Farquaad to be the one to blame. *Originally, Lord Farquaad was meant to return in Shrek Forever After, where he was going to appear in Rumpelstiltskin's alternate reality because he was never killed by the Dragon in such timeline as Shrek was never born. John Lithgow even hinted his involvement. However, the idea was dropped during production. Interestingly, some Shrek Forever After DVD cases mention that in the world where Shrek was never born, Lord Farquaad was still alive, which could suggest that the decision to remove Farquaad from the film was late. **However, over the years, most Shrek fans have speculated what became of Farquaad in this alternate timeline. However, given that Farquaad just wanted Fiona to be crowned as king, but Fiona mentions that no one was able to rescue her so she decided to escape herself, it is possible that Farquaad selected another knight to go after Fiona. Given Farquaad's ego and nature, it is likely that after the knight failed and Fiona lost her royal status as Rumpel took over Far Far Away, Farquaad just opted for another princess instead and succeeded in becoming King of DuLoc. *His first name "Maximus" is never mentioned in the film. *Although Farquaad is the main antagonist of the film, he has only around 4 minutes of screen-time. 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